Harcourts Grenadier finds a new home with Pace

In a turn-around of roles, Pace Project Management has helped Harcourts Grenadier find a new home - this time for Harcourts themselves in their brand new Building at 98 Moorhouse Avenue, Christchurch. Prominent construction project management experts, Pace Project Management, managed the entire project, from design and build, fit-out through to completion and handover.

As early as 2004 Pace project managed the refurbishment of 323 Madras Street for Harcourts Grenadier CEO and business owner, Rob McCormack. The building was an old and tired one that McCormack and his business partners had bought to redevelop as their head office. The project was a prestigious one and the largest that Pace Project Management had undertaken at the time. The refurbishment was completed on time and to budget. Over the next few years a number of alterations were made, as Grenadier grew into the biggest Harcourts franchise in the world and the relationship between Pace Project Management and Harcourts Grenadier grew.

During the 2011 earthquakes the Madras Street building was damaged beyond repair. In a media conference in January 2012 an announcement was made on what was to be the first post-quake CBD rebuild, Harcourts Grenadier House, on its original Madras Street site, and managed by Pace Project Management. This was an exciting development that attracted national media coverage. The first foundation pile was drilled with the assistance of Earthquake Minister, Gerry Brownlee and other senior Government officials were also in attendance. The clear message was that this first, significant construction milestone and was symbolic of a city beginning to move forward once again.

Mr. McCormack and his partners had invested around $1.3M dollars in creating the design, obtaining consent fees and funding the first piles. But the project was halted in June 2012 when the Government announced the designation of the Madras Street site as being part of East Frame Green Corridor.

Meanwhile, the owners of the building at 98 Moorhouse Avenue, previously the old ‘Kitchen Things’ site, had contacted Pace in the wake of the earthquakes to repair the existing building. Pace quickly helped establish that the building was uneconomic to repair and managed the subsequent insurance claim. The insurer insisted the owners re-build in order to obtain the pay out from their insurance policy. The owners looked to Pace Project Management to re-establish the investment. Pace produced the development budgets, put together the design team and managed the design process to ensure that the client’s expectations of use and costs were met. Pace also conducted the tender process that was concluded with Higgs Construction as the best tender for the building of the new property.

With an extremely pro-active building owner, the rebuild process started well before the insurer had settled the claim the construction started on site before most earthquake-damaged building owners had even thought about their new buildings. The construction of the building was completed within budget and in the allotted timeframe.

At the same time as the Harcourts Grenadier Madras Street building was being halted, the owners of the newly completed 98 Moorhouse Avenue were seeking a tenant. Harcourts Grenadier viewed the property and made a successful offer to not only lease the building but to buy it when it was completed.

Pace Project Management was then employed by Harcourts Grenadier to project manage the fit-out of their new building. Pace Project Management put together the new design team and put together the budgets for the fit-out. In the design process Pace's in-house quantity surveying expertise was invaluable to ensure budgets were met. The design process for the fit-out was quite complicated with eight business centres and over 200 staff going into what is now one of the premiere Harcourts offices in the world.

The building was completed on time and to budget and on 16th December The Prime Minister officially opened the building. Three and a half years after the earthquakes, Grenadier House has finally taken its place in its new CBD location, home to the Harcourts Grenadier Head Office, 200 staff and the eight businesses operating within this important city franchise group.